Sports

UEFA Europa League: Arteta Bemoans Arsenal’s Defeat To PSV

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta Thursday night berated the poor performance of his players in the defeat to PSV in Matchday 5 of the competition reports Prime Business Africa.

Goals from Joey Veerman and substitute Luuk De Jong condemned the Gunners to their first defeat in the Europa League this season, and only their second in all competitions.

Top spot in Group A is still unconfirmed following FC Zurich’s 2-1 win against Bodo/Glimt same time with the playoffs into the UEFA Conference League a source of motivation to both teams next week.

Gabriel Martinelli blazed over from well inside the PSV box 38 minutes in, with the lack of quality from both teams evident in the first half.

Arsenal boss Arteta was admittedly disappointed with how his side performed, as they lacked the necessary grit and determination that had been the forefront of the Gunners’ success this season, with the home side deserved winners in front of their own fans.

“It’s the end of a long run and now it’s time to reset and analyse what happened,” Arteta said. “PSV deserved to win no question, we were nowhere near our level today.

“Last week the game was all ours. Today it was very different and when you play like that against the top teams it’s very difficult to win.

“Today we were extremely poor.”

Arsenal will focus on Premier League commitment before then as they face Nottingham Forest this Sunday afternoon.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.